HELLPPP!

[Quackattack717]

Hello,

I need opinions ASAP! We’ve been having hawk issues, we lost one of our young Rouens about a month back. And recently a young rooster, so our flock has been locked up in their coops during the day while we’re gone. My husband usually gets home around 4 and they get to free range until bedtime. Not long at all, but we’re just trying to keep them safe. We have begun to build a large enclosure for them to be let out of their coops during the day. It will be done hopefully tomorrow evening and they’ll be able to be let out Wednesday morning!

On Friday our female Muscovy had blood on her feathers. She was in the coop with our male Muscovy. She cleaned herself up and it appeared nothing had happened afterwards. Well today when we got home it happened again. These pictures are from after she’d cleaned herself up. They have to be cooped up for one more day and we’re scared to leave them together. We have an unfinished coop that we could put one of them in tomorrow during the day, it’s just not predator proof. I need opinions on what we should do to handle this and if there’s anything we can put on her wound to help keep it from getting infected. Please let me know!

Thank you!

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Not sure, but it looks to me like wounds from a mating rooster - likely getting a bit too frisky with the ladies in such close quarters, and boredom of being cooped up. The location on her back is where the rooster stands on her back, and I can see bloody area on the left as well, in the same area. They likely need more space as soon as you can manage it. If you must put one of them in the unfinished coop, put your rooster in there. You can dab a little antibiotic ointment on her wounds to help. Once they're not cramped for space they should be fine.

 

[glassdragonfly]

If you have a large kennel cab you can put her in it with food and water for the day. Maybe in the garage,it will give her a break from whoever is bothering her and keep her safe. You can put antibiotic ointment without pain relief in it on her wounds.

 

[blackandtan]

She’s a duck though, right? So wounds aren’t from a rooster.
There are lots of hawk deterrents out there, netting over the run, strings of fishing line, even those hawk-kite things that I see all over town now.
I find it odd though that she has marks on both sides like that ; you mentioned some rebuilding is going on, could there be a hole she’s squeezing through or something like that?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Sorry, I'm confused. The injured bird is a duck, yes? And she is in a pen with a male duck. You say you recently lost a rooster... What other birds are still in the pen with her besides the drake?

 

[Quackattack717]

Not sure, but it looks to me like wounds from a mating rooster - likely getting a bit too frisky with the ladies in such close quarters, and boredom of being cooped up. The location on her back is where the rooster stands on her back, and I can see bloody area on the left as well, in the same area. They likely need more space as soon as you can manage it. If you must put one of them in the unfinished coop, put your rooster in there. You can dab a little antibiotic ointment on her wounds to help. Once they're not cramped for space they should be fine.

That’s what I was afraid of. They are just around that age that they would start mating. And unfortunately they have been cooped up for about a month. But their new enclosure which is 30ft by 25ft is quite large and will be protected from flying predators and as long as the netting for the top gets here today and we can get up up and get the door on, they will be free tomorrow. Although they will still be confined to a certain area, I hope he leaves her alone. But is it normal for him to rip feathers out and leave wounds like that, or is it worse because they were cooped up and she couldn’t get away if she wanted too?

 

[Duck_life]

Luckily it really doesn't look bad, chickens and ducks have healed from unbelievable things. My muscovy once had a fox attack her, sprained her leg, bit open her neck, hurt her wing badly and here she is 4 months later! I agree with the above, it could be from mating I'd put some ointment on it and keep it clean. (If needed)

 

[Quackattack717]

Sorry, I'm confused. The injured bird is a duck, yes? And she is in a pen with a male duck. You say you recently lost a rooster... What other birds are still in the pen with her besides the drake?

The coop they are in has two parts to it, it was originally built as a coop with a run and a door in between that we close at night. When we added our Rouens (now just one Rouen because one was taken by a hawk) we had to separate them from the muscovies because they were so mean to the younger ducks. So our Rouen is in the back part, and our muscovies are up front together (male & female). Once they stop bullying each other everyone will live together without doors. But right now the older ducks are super mean to the younger ducks. Our chickens are in a separate coop.

 

[Duck_life]

The coop they are in has two parts to it, it was originally built as a coop with a run and a door in between that we close at night. When we added our Rouens (now just one Rouen because one was taken by a hawk) we had to separate them from the muscovies because they were so mean to the younger ducks. So our Rouen is in the back part, and our muscovies are up front together (male & female). Once they stop bullying each other everyone will live together without doors. But right now the older ducks are super mean to the younger ducks. Our chickens are in a separate coop.

Muscovies are their own breed, most don't get along with other breeds of ducks. Of course mine are because they have known eachother since early age. Not everything goes smooth

 

[Quackattack717]

Muscovies are their own breed, most don't get along with other breeds of ducks. Of course mine are because they have known eachother since early age. Not everything goes smooth

We got our muscovies first, they are a few months older than our Rouen. They don’t hurt her, but will push her away from them if they don’t want her so close and they may nip at her sometimes but the do allow her to hang out around them since she’s all alone since her sister was taken. We have two WH moving out to the coop in a week and the Rouen is super mean to them, treats them the way the muscovies treat her but will literally charge them to push them away and separate them from each other.